'Fury' Blasts 'Gone Girl' from Top of Box Office

“Gone Girl” was tops at the box office for two weeks before Brad Pitt and his rag-tag group of tank mates in “Fury” blasted the film to second place.

Sony’s “Fury” captured $23.5 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Fox’s “Gone Girl” followed with $17.8 million.

The week’s top two films are R-rated adult dramas, followed by two PG family films.

“The fall movie season is all about making the transition from PG-13 world of summer to the R-rated, edgier world of the fall and awards season,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.

The animated Fox feature “The Book of Life” opened in third place with $17 million, followed by Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” with $12 million.

“Were now in full adult movie-going season and we’ll see a lot more adult-skewing fare,” said Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson, who added that the colorful “Book of Life” suits any audience.

Another new film rounds out the top five: Relativity’s Nicholas Sparks romance “The Best of Me,” starring Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden, debuted with $10.2 million.

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Fury,” $23.5 million.

2. “Gone Girl,” $17.8 million.

3. “The Book of Life,” $17 million.

4. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” $12 million.

5. “The Best of Me,” $10.2 million.

6. “Dracula Untold,” $9.9 million.

7. “The Judge,” $7.94 million.

8. “Annabelle,” $7.92 million.

9. “The Equalizer,” $5.4 million.

10. “The Maze Runner,” $4.5 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.